Arsenal were dire again, unable to show a stomach for the fight or quality up front and in defence as West Brom inflicted a fourth Premier League defeat in five

Hal Robson-Kanu scores for West Brom in their Premier League game against ArsenalReuters

A day that began with two messages competing for airspace overhead – one in the "Wenger in" camp and the other "Wenger out" – ended in misery for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal again, as the north London side suffered their fourth Premier League defeat in five.

Already under pressure to get the results and find some winning momentum following an abysmal showing in the Champions League, where they were spanked by Bayern Munich 10-2 on aggregate, Arsenal put on a pathetic performance against West Bromwich Albion.

With the planes with messages that read "Wenger Out, No New Contract" and "In Arsene We Trust" flying above the Hawthorns, West Brom struck first through Craig Dawson, who headed easily in off a corner in the 12th minute, before Arsenal immediately equalised through Alexis Sanchez.

The Arsenal goal was a really nice one, with Granit Xhaka finding a brilliant pass over the top for Sanchez, who took a couple of touches, cut-in, before slamming the ball into the roof of the net.

That Arsenal reply was a nice one, but Wenger's team never looked comfortable. Dominating possession is fine and well, but when you look so vulnerable on the counter-attack and do not show enough penetration to beat an, albeit well-drilled, West Brom side, you're asking for trouble.

There were chances for both teams, though, in that first half, with Aaron Ramsey forcing a brilliant save from Ben Foster, while Petr Cech had to be alive to deny both James McClean and Darren Fletcher.

Soon after that Fletcher save, Cech would be forced off with a calf injury, with David Ospina coming in. That forced substitution would have an impact, because later, in the second half, it was through Ospina's rather tame intervention that West Brom scored the winning goal on 55 minutes.

A ball was played into the box, Ospina came off his line to cut it off, but all he could do was divert the ball along to Hal Robson-Kanu, who rolled the ball into the net. Arsenal complained for an offside, with McClean stepping over the ball as it went in, but the referee deemed he wasn't interfering with play, even if, earlier, when the first pass came in, the winger was a touch offside – Wenger, no doubt, will point at that and say that was the reason for another defeat.

The proverbial kitchen sink was thrown in, expectedly, by Arsenal, but instead of a fightback, all that came was more diabolical defending off a corner, with Dawson given the freedom of the Hawthorns to head in from close-range 20 minutes later.

Arsenal were done and dusted with that goal, with a lot of the Wenger out banners coming out from the away end as Wenger pondered over another miserable afternoon.